The Heart of Suijin
by KATTALNUVA
Summary: Sequel to Fear the Golden Reaper. The Straw Hats continue their adventures in the New World and find themselves tangled in a plot to steal one of the world's most valuable gemstones. Meanwhile the World Government and pirates alike are searching for the now elusive Clock-Clock fruit.
1. The Legend

**Previously**

** As the Straw Hat Pirates made their way across the New World, they discovered the location of the lost treasure of the infamous pirate Black Hook Bart. As the prize drew close they were ambushed by The Golden Reaper, a freelance assassin in the employ of the World Nobles. With the power to manipulate time, granted to him by the legendary logia class Clock-Clock fruit, he proved more than a match for the Straw Hats, but with a little help from a new friend they were able to defeat him. Now with the Reaper dead, the Clock-Clock fruit is once again somewhere in the Grand Line waiting to be discovered. Once found this power will spell certain doom to the enemies of whoever possesses it.**

**(The Canomi Islands: Many years ago)**

It was a bright moonlit night on the Canomi Islands. On this particular night Belle-mère decided to tell Nami and Nojiko a story that she had once been told when she was about their age.

"Once upon a time on an island far-far away there was a beautiful princess and a poor fisherman. The young fisherman was the fiercely in love with the princess, but being a lowly commoner he had nothing to offer her. He would often spend his spare time hunting pearls, hoping he could use them to make some jewelry to give to the princess as gifts, because he knew that she was always looking for pieces to add to her ever growing collection, but he never managed to make anything he thought would impress her."

"What kind of jewelry did the princess have in her collection?" asked Nami.

"All sorts of things… Rings, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, all made from the finest metals and gems available."

"I wish I had a collection like that."

"Nami, I want to hear the story."

"Anyway… one day while the young man was out fishing, his small boat was caught in a terrible storm that cast him to another island, where he was forced to take refuge in a cave. Before going to sleep that night he decided to make sure he was alone in the cave. It turned out that it was a lot deeper than he had expected. He continued to follow the tunnel deep into the ground until finally he found a pool of water with a bright blue light emanating from it. His curiosity got the better of him, and that's where he found it… a flawless blue pearl the size of a cannonball, which he named the Heart of Suijin."

Used to living only on necessities with Belle-mère and Nojiko, Nami could hardly imagine what it must be like to have a pearl the size of a cannonball.

"The fisherman took the pearl back to his island and presented it to the princess, and it didn't take long for her to decide that she simply had to have it. Seizing the opportunity the fisherman said he would only give the princess the pearl if she agreed to marry him. She couldn't refuse. At first it seemed like the princess was far more interested in the pearl, but as time passed her new husband began to grow on her. One day the island was attacked by pirates, who had heard all about the princess' pearl. They took her husband hostage and held him ransom in exchange for it. The young fisherman was sure the Princess would never give the Heart of Suijin up, but much to everyone's surprise she handed it over willingly. During her time with him she learned that there were some things more valuable than gemstones. Having got what they came for, the pirates left without a fight. And the Princess and her husband lived happily ever after."

"Belle-mère, why would she give up a blue pearl the size of a cannonball for a man?" asked Nami "It must've been priceless."

"Obviously because she realized her husband was more valuable to her than a big rock."

"I would've kept the Heart of Suijin."

"Well maybe someday you'll meet someone who will convince you otherwise." replied Belle-mère smiling.

"What happened to the Heart of Suijin?"

"No one really knows; now off to bed with you two."

Being used to only a meager life style, Nami would continue to dream about treasures like the Heart of Suijin for many years to come. Little did she know that in reality the Heart of Suijin found its way through the hands of several pirates, until its thirteenth owner was captured by none other than the World Nobles.

**(To be continued)**


	2. No One Mourns the Reaper

**(One month ago)**

After the Straw Hats defeated the Golden Reaper, Brook used some of the bounty hunter's transponder snails to broadcast his new song across the five seas. Of course no inhabitants on islands controlled by the World Government dared to sing it when any Marines were in earshot, but on Fishman Island it was a big hit. In the Kingdom of Alabasta, Princess Vivi Nefertari sang the song behind a closed door while she helped her dear friend Carue while he was molting.

"Gold Roger lies buried, but his legend lives on. I tell you the Pirate King comes. Pirates sail the seas of the New World with their hearts bold and dreams full of gold. Surely there must be one that can rise and claim the throne. Find the lost treasure and turn the world upside down, in our hearts we know the Pirate King comes. With a ship like no other, a crew to match, and the power of a conqueror. Let all enemies of the freedom we hold so dear beware. Though the darkness grows as do our foes, through the good and bad times we'll see our adventure through. In our hearts we know we'll be there soon. We know the Pirate king comes."

It had been so long since Vivi had seen her friends. After Luffy defeated Crocodile he and the others continued their journey while she stayed in Alabasta with her people. For a while she only heard about their exploits in the papers, but the Golden Reaper broadcasted his fights with them via visual transponder snails. Vivi couldn't believe how much Luffy had improved over the course of two years. He had even somehow managed to defy the Reaper's ability to manipulate time. It didn't matter how strong the Four Emperors or the agents of the World Government were, somehow she knew Luffy was going to be the Pirate King someday.

"I can only imagine what crazy adventures they must be having right now."

Meanwhile on the Amazon Lily, Pirate Empress Boa Hancock was having another one of her fits.

"Luffy, why won't you love me!?"

Two years ago Luffy was blasted to the Amazon Lily; there he had done the unthinkable and unintentionally made Boa Hancock fall in love with him. The time they had spent together had been very brief, because Luffy spent two years training alone with Silver Rayleigh, first mate of the late Gold Roger. After that Luffy immediately resumed his journey to conquer the Grand Line and find the lost treasure of One Piece. Though he promised to come back to her someday, the Pirate Empress hated herself for letting him go all the same. Not too long ago it seemed like Luffy was going to be killed by the World Nobles' freelance assassin, but once again he defied the odds and made Hancock love him even more. The world was full of men who would march barefoot into the darkest pit of Hell for a woman like the Pirate Empress, but Luffy was not like any other man. This was one reason why Hancock was so fiercely in love with him, but at the same time it made getting him to return the affection all the harder. Luffy wasn't concerned with the desires of the flesh; he was too concerned with becoming the Pirate King.

"I am beautiful, I am flawless! I could give him anything his heart desires! Why doesn't he love me?! Could it be that he's already given his heart to someone else?"

"No way big sis! There isn't a woman in the five seas that can hold a candle to you!"

"Yeah! There's no way a lesser woman could do it."

"You're right… but what am I supposed to do?"

It didn't take Hancock long to see that this little brainstorm session wasn't going anywhere.

"Everyone out! I'm going to take my bath!"

It was during her bath two years ago that Hancock first met Luffy, who literally just fell out of the sky. As she sat there she continued to try and think of a way to win Luffy's love, the problem was he just didn't seem to be interested in this sort of thing.

"Then I'll make him interested… and I know exactly how to do it…"

Luffy didn't seem like the kind of person who would back out of a debt, as long as it seemed reasonable, and Hancock could use this to her advantage.

"_Luffy, when we first met you saw my naked body… it's only fair… that you show me your naked body!"_

"_Oh, okay!"_

The thought of seeing Luffy naked was almost too much for Hancock to handle, as was the thought of his body against her own, but it was what she wanted. If she could just enthrall Luffy in the desires of the flesh he would be all hers.

"Oh my Luffy…"

Meanwhile at Marine Headquarters, the thought of getting Monkey D. Luffy in the sack was the last thing on anyone's mind.

"Let me make this perfectly clear." said Fleet Admiral Sakazuki "Straw Hat Luffy and his crew are long overdue for being crushed by the fist of justice, but as of right now our priority is finding the Clock-Clock fruit before some other scum does. I want this thing found and I want it found last month! NOW MOVE OUT!"

It didn't take long for Sakazuki's orders to reach the rest of the Navy.

"Oh sure… We'll just go out, turn the Grand Line upside down, and be back before dinner." said Lieutenant Commander Helmeppo.

Ever since the battle at Marineford, the Navy's forces were stretched thin across the five seas trying to contain both the pirates and the revolutionaries. For every pirate or revolutionary they put away or killed another rose to take its place. Countless Marines were beginning to think the Clock-Clock fruit might just be the magic bullet that could end this struggle. Others like Captains Coby and Tashigi were more terrified of what it could do if it fell into the wrong hands.

Meanwhile in some dark corner of the New World, Blackbeard was still laughing his guts out.

"This Reaper character had the power to manipulate time, and all he did was use it to kill for money? Now the power is once again up for grabs… Boys, send word to all our territories that there's a big reward for whoever brings me the Clock-Clock fruit, or points us in the direction of the one who possesses it."

**(To be continued)**

**Pirates, the World Government, and Revolutionaries alike search for the Clock-Clock fruit, but who will find it first?**


	3. The Morning Star Pirates

**(Last Night)**

After a month of false leads and dead-ends, the Marines finally received a report of a devil fruit that matched the description in a previously locked away text that was in the possession of the World Government. The Clock-Clock fruit had been found on a small island controlled by the government by some poor merchants looking to collect the bounty. Fleet Admiral Sakazuki himself was going to collect it, but he had no intention of paying the bounty. Fearing the worst he went with a huge escort of ships at his command.

"Where is the fruit?" he demanded.

"Where's my money?"

Sakazuki's body began to transform into magma.

"Where is the fruit?"

Fearing the Fleet Admiral's wrath, the merchant's wife brought forth a chest, but when she opened it all that was inside was a bunch of bananas.

"Is this supposed to be a joke? Where is it?!"

"I swear, it was right here!"

Sakazuki fired a shot of magma that set the house on fire.

"WHERE IS THE CLOCK-CLOCK FRUIT!"

BOOM!

Sakazuki turned around and saw that one of the sails on his ship had collapsed, leaving him stranded on the island. He took out his snail phone to get in touch with the other ships.

"Lock this island down, no one leaves!"

Little did Sakazuki know the perpetrator had already left. Underneath the water there was a large barrel shaped pod shooting at great speed past the blockade to another ship even further out at sea. Its sole occupant was Katrina, better known as the Steel-Fanged Spider, first mate of the Morning Star Pirates.

"I'll be damned, this thing actually works."

After five minutes Katrina's pod made it to the Morning Star Pirates' ship, the Wrath of Ra, where the rest of the crew was waiting for her.

"I told you it would work. You owe me three drinks."

The Morning Star Pirates were founded by Sol Starchild several years ago, but only became infamous after several daring raids which took place shortly after the Battle of Marineford. The crew consisted of Keen-Eye Kimmi (Bounty: 75,000,000 belli), the three Jaw Brothers: Chomp, Stomp, and Tromp (Bounties: 100,000,000 belli, 80,000,000 belli, 80,000,000 belli), Zoo Keeper Felicity (Bounty: 75,000,000 belli), Steel Fanged Spider Katrina (Bounty: 110,000,000 belli), and Captain Sol herself (Bounty: 350,000,000 belli).

"How did it go?"

"In and out like well lubricated lighting." said Katrina climbing out of the pod.

"Who did they send?" asked Felicity.

"Sakazuki himself."

"And?"

"He won't be a problem. But I think we'd best put some distance between us and this island and head home."

"Hear, hear."

"I trust you have them?" said Captain Sol emerging from her cabin.

"Gotcha covered."

Katrina pulled a really bizarre looking fruit out of her bag and handed it to the captain.

"So this is the legendary Clock-Clock fruit… the power to manipulate time and all things with it… makes me wish I hadn't already eaten a devil fruit."

"We all already have devil fruit powers. Why do we need this one?" asked Chomp.

"I'll sleep a lot easier at night knowing that this thing's power isn't in the hands of the Navy."

"Point taken… but do you have something that we can actually make profit off of?"

"Katrina?"

Katrina pulled out an Eternal Pose.

"Crystalmite Island?" asked Stomp reading what was written on it.

"As you all know, the World Nobles have more money than they know what do with, and Crystalmite Island is one of the places where they keep it. Since the current Fleet Admiral was once at the World Nobles' beckon call I figured he might be one of the few people that would know where the island is. We're going to redistribute as much of their assets as we can."

"Are you nuts?!" exclaimed Kimmi "Do you know what would happen if the World Nobles found out we were planning to raid one of their personal vaults?!"

"Did you really just question my sanity while I'm in earshot?"

There was a big awkward silence.

"Now then… As we all know the best in the Navy and the World Government are stretched thin across the five seas trying to contain pirates and the revolutionaries, I don't think safeguarding the World Nobles' money is the highest thing on their priority list. And in order for the World Nobles to persecute someone, there need to witnesses."

"I like the way you think." said Stomp.

"Of course we'll wait till we get specifics from our contacts, but the important thing is that we know where there's more money than we can count. Now let's get back home before the Fleet Admiral repairs his ship. Oh one thing I forgot to mention… at the heart of this little treasure trove is the legendary Heart of Suijin."

Most of the others started to laugh.

"The Heart of Suijin is a bedtime story told to convince children there is something worth more than money."

"It happens to be true. I've done my homework, and it turns out the princess in the story is Princess Venus Maxia of Olympa. She relinquished the Heart of Sujin in order to save her husband from a band of pirates. The Heart of Suijin passed through thirteen different groups of pirates until it's last owner was taken prisoner by the World Nobles and turned into their personal pet. Now the Heart of Suijin lies with the rest of their disposable income."

"And you know this how?"

"From a friend of a friend who owed me a big favor. Now Felicity, make sure we don't run into any Marines on the way home."

Sol went below deck to check on her little sister Vega, the only person on the ship who didn't have a bounty on her head.

"What are you still doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep."

"It's okay, we got what we came for. We're headed back now."

"Will you at least tell me the story again?"

"Okay… Once upon a time on an island far-far away there was a beautiful princess and a poor fisherman."

**(To be continued)**

**Next time: The Straw Hats are enjoying some time off, with hilarious consequences. Little do they know Saint Charloss has lost his patience.**

**Now on deviantart: Nami's new look and Keen-Eye Kimmi, more to come.**


	4. The Drinking Contest

**(Present Day)**

Two years ago at Sabaody Archipelago, Monkey D. Luffy punched Saint Charloss in the face. The fact that he had somehow been able to escape justice for so long was unsettling to say the least. For this reason the World Nobles employed the Golden Reaper, the man who fought to a standstill with the three Admirals of the time. But even with the legendary power of the Clock-Clock fruit at his disposal the Reaper ended up losing his head. Now they were at a loss. The Marines had failed to apprehend the Straw Hats on countless occasions, they had defeated Warlords, they had survived a buster call, they had even managed to evade the Admirals, and now the Reaper was dead. They were half tempted to see if the Straw Hats would run into one of the Four Emperors and hope they would do the job, but Saint Charloss couldn't wait that long.

In the New World there is an island where some of the deadliest warriors on the sea go to train, at the center of the island is a very tall mountain, and at frozen peak there is a monastery that is always painfully silent, only now that silence was broken by a snail phone.

"Grandmaster Umbra Yoshi, to whom am I speaking?"

"This is Saint Charloss."

"To what do I owe the honor?"

"Ever since the death of the Reaper, word has spread that you and your pajama wearing acolytes are the best at killing things, and I want you to murder Straw Hat Luffy."

"The son of Monkey D. Dragon?"

"I don't just want him dead; I want to violate his mother in front of him! I want to chop his hands and feet off and turn them into a collection of backscratchers! I want to skin him alive and force-feed him his own entrails! And I want his head and heart mounted on my wall!"

"Violate his mother… I'm afraid no one even knows who that is."

"Name your price…"

"He is the son of the most dangerous and one of the most powerful men in the world… and he's also somehow managed to defy even the power of the Clock-Clock fruit. The price is the full posted bounty plus an extra seventy-five percent."

"You don't get a single belly until you bring me his bloody head."

"Agreed. The Black Falcon clan is at your service."

After terminating the signal the Grandmaster struck the gong to signal his attendants.

"What do you require master?"

"Gather our strongest fighters and prepare my ship. We have a mission."

While the Black Falcon Clan's Grandmaster was busy preparing his acolytes, the Straw Hats were far out at sea. After finding a quiet place to drop anchor for the night, Nami challenged Sanji to a drinking contest. If Nami lost the game she would dance naked on the ship's deck for twenty minutes free of charge, but if Sanji lost then he would owe her 500,000 belli. It was plain as day that she was just trying to sucker him out of his money. Nami was clearly the better drinker, but the others could tell that Sanji was very determined.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, you know the rules." said Franky "Both participants will take turns drinking shots. If you spill, regurgitate, or pass out you lose. Now let the games begin, Musician?"

Brook started playing some appropriate music while Nami and Sanji started drinking.

"Eyebrows is a bigger idiot than I thought if he thinks he can win this." said Zoro.

Everyone was surprised by Sanji's tolerance, but Nami refused to yield.

"How many shots have they had?"

"I don't know, I've lost count."

Nami almost spilled her shots once or twice, and Sanji nearly threw up.

"You can't beat me… Everyone knows that men have a stronger… something… I don't remember."

Sanji looked at Luffy.

"Everyone's always… kissing your ass… but I'm not afraid to tell you… you're a **** blocking ****tard!"

"What's that mean?"

"Sanji, it's your turn." said Usopp.

"Who died and made you… the lord of ice cream?"

"Ice cream?"

"I don't need to put up with this… I should be the one…getting all the…"

Before Sanji could finish he collapsed.

"Game over." giggled Robin.

Nami laughed hysterically at nothing for about seven minutes.

"I love you guys."

"Nami, can you say the alphabet backwards?" asked Chopper.

"Don't tell me what to do! I've carrying this band all across the… where are we?"

"I think it's time to call it a night."

Luffy had a nightmare that he was fighting the Reaper again, only this time he didn't have Safaia's amulet, which had been crafted by the infamous Black Hook Bart using the mystic arts to help him defeat his enemies. Without it he was vulnerable to the power of the Clock-Clock fruit, a fact the rest of the world was ignorant of. He was awoken by the shock of being run through with the Reaper's sword.

"It was only a dream…"

Luffy crept down to the library, where they had the Reaper's armor on display as a trophy. Luffy banged on the chest piece three times.

"I'm sure glad it's empty."

Unable to go back to sleep, Luffy sat out on the ship's figurehead and looked out at the stars. After the Battle at Marineford, he spent two years training with Rayleigh so he could become strong enough to fight the powerful opponents he would face in the New World, all the while the members of his crew sought to improve their own skills. But even after all that training they were only able to defeat the Reaper with the assistance of a piece of jewelry, and now the Clock-Clock fruit's power was up for grabs.

Luffy's train of thought was interrupted by the sound of something banging below deck. He went down and saw that it was Nami stumbling around on the floor.

"Nami, what are you doing out of bed… and not wearing pants?"

"I had to go to the bathroom." she said dizzily spinning her head.

In her present state, Nami was bound to do something really stupid.

"Why is it so hot in here?"

Without warning she took her top off. Luffy immediately closed his eyes because he knew Nami would charge him if he saw.

"Luffy… don't you think I'm sexy?"

Luffy kept his eyes shut; suddenly he got knocked to the floor. When he opened his eyes Nami was right on top of him.

"You can see me completely naked and you shut your eyes? What's wrong with you? You're hurting my pride."

"Because I know you're going to charge me an outrageous amount of money."

Nami laughed.

"You're so cute when you're like that… don't be shy… oh I'm so tipsy…"

Just like that Nami passed out. Now most men would love to have a drunk naked girl unconscious on top of them, and it wasn't like Luffy wasn't enjoying the view, but he was more concerned about how much Nami would take out of his share of the treasure, and that would leave him with less money to buy food.

"Let's get you back to bed."

Luffy carried Nami back to her room and laid her in her bed. Hopefully she would dismiss all this as a dream.

"Luffy… you'll always take care of me… won't you?"

Luffy's dream was to sail to the end of Grand Line, find the One Piece, and become the Pirate King. But his friends were worth more to him than all the treasure that is or ever was on the sea. Two years ago he promised himself that he would never let what happened to Ace happen to anyone on his crew.

"Of course I will."

**(To be continued)**


	5. Sunspot Island

Nami and Sanji both woke up with huge hangovers, but Nami was even more surprised to find that she had woken up naked. At first she thought this meant she had lost the bet, until Robin assured her that she didn't. The good news for Luffy was that Nami didn't remember anything, the bad news was Sanji's hangover and depression prevented him from making breakfast. Luffy spent his time trying to think of a way to overcome the power of the Clock-Clock fruit without the aid of Safaia's pendant, if/when they encountered it again.

"What the heck are you doing?" asked Zoro.

"I'm training."

"It looks like you're trying to drown yourself."

Luffy was wrapped in sea-prism chains and submerged in the ship's aquarium with his head stretched out and grabbing onto a handle.

"How exactly is that supposed to help you figure out how overcome the Clock-Clock fruit?" asked Usopp.

"He tried to freeze us didn't he?"

"He tried to do that by manipulating time." said Robin "Right now you're feeling helpless, but you're aware that you're in danger. When he looped or froze us with the Clock-Clock fruit we weren't aware of what was happening. If you're trying to find a way to beat the Clock-Clock fruit I don't think this is the way to do it."

"Then what should I do?"

"I'm afraid I don't know."

Since their navigator was incapacitated, the Straw Hats decided to take the day off. Luffy sat on the figurehead apparently lost in thought.

"_There has to be a way… What did we spend two years training for?"_

Luffy tried to recall everything that Rayleigh had taught him, and at the same time tried to recollect what had occurred during his fights with the Reaper. When the Reaper tried to freeze time when Luffy was wearing Safaia's pendant it was like an invisible barrier was there protecting him from the Reaper's power. And when the Reaper used his power to loop time it was like there was something shielding the wearer's mind, so that even though they had been affected by the loop like everyone else, they were still aware that it had happened. These barriers were created by the pendant's magic, Luffy wondered if he could somehow recreate those barriers using his haki. But first he had to recreate the feeling of the Clock-Clock fruit being used.

"_I only use this power when nothing else works… wouldn't want to make things too easy."_

"_Observation Haki is the power to feel other's presence more strongly."_

"_Freeze!"_

"_The second type is Armament Haki. This power is this same as wearing an invisible armor."_

"_Loop!"_

Luffy's behavior really surprised the rest of the crew. He spent most of the day just sitting on the Sunny's figurehead and staring at nothing in particular. It was around nightfall that Nami and Sanji came to their senses.

"What's he doing?" asked Nami.

"Haven't the foggiest."

"He's been like that for hours." said Usopp.

"I can hardly believe my eyes… even though I don't have any. YOHOHOHOHO!"

Just then Luffy seemed to come to his senses.

"Sanji! FOOD!"

"There it is."

The others weren't really sure what to think, but Luffy claimed that he had everything under control. The next day seemed to be back to his normal self. They quickly set sail and around noon came to an island.

"It's flying a pirate flag." said Nami looking through her telescope.

"Whose territory is it?"

The Jolly Roger was composed of a skull with a symbol on its forehead in front of a star.

"That's the mark of the Morning Star Pirates." said Robin "They're led by Captain Sol Starchild. They started making a name for themselves shortly after the battle at Marineford, but not so much that they attract the attention of the Four Emperors, at least not yet."

"Is it a problem?" asked Franky.

"Captain Sol has a bounty of 350,000,000 belli."

"Ha! My bounty's higher than hers!" said Luffy.

"Well… if they're not worth fighting… couldn't we just pass this island by?" asked Usopp.

"Not a chance. We need to restock our supplies. Luffy ate just about everything after skipping meals yesterday."

"We need to wait for the log pose to reset anyway." said Nami "We'll drop anchor on the far side away from the docks. Somehow I doubt they'd take kindly to infamous pirates like us landing on their island."

"If they give us any trouble I'll just beat the crap out of them." said Luffy smiling.

"Don't get too cocky. A captain doesn't get a 350,000,000 bounty by picking off weak opponents." said Zoro "That's higher than most of the other Supernovas. Only you, Law, and Kid have higher bounties."

"They'd probably roast us alive and chop us into tiny bits if they got the chance."

"DON'T SAY IT SO CALMLY LIKE THAT!" exclaimed Usopp.

Islands in the New World that are controlled by pirates often have at least a small undercover Navy presence if the pirates in question are priority targets. But the group stationed on Sunspot Island never expected to see the Thousand Sunny on the horizon.

"Baby bird to momma bird!" said one of the agents speaking into a snail phone "The chimpanzee is in the tree!"

"What?"

"The Great Ape is in the zoo, tell the King Cloud to pursue!"

"What are you talking about?"

"It's the Straw Hats! They're here on Sunspot Island!"

"Well why didn't you just say that?"

"We're supposed to be undercover."

"Oh for crying out loud."

As soon as the Sunny dropped its anchor Luffy raced off to find a place where he could get some lunch. Nami, Sanji, Chopper, and Robin went to get supplies, while Brook, Franky, Usopp, and Zoro stayed with the ship. As he made his way into town Sanji could swear that he was being followed. He waited until he turned a corner and then fired three powerful kicks. He turned around to find three unconscious men dressed in black shinobi shōzoku with golden emblems on their chests, and each had the symbol of a falcon on it.

"The others are never going to believe this."

**(To be continued)**

**Next time: See the Jaw brothers in action, and find out why Felicity is called The Zoo Keeper.**

**Now on deviantart: Robin's new look.**


	6. The Power of the Sun

While the others were busy gathering supplies, Nami was doing some sleuthing around the island. Any band of pirates with a captain that had a bounty higher than most of the supernovas would surely have a sizable amount of treasure stashed somewhere nearby. She was careful not to ask the wrong questions or be seen by the wrong people. A pirate crew controlled by one of the supernovas walking on someone else's turf would surely create a storm of problems they didn't need.

"_Then again Luffy is probably already causing trouble… With that Straw Hat of his he sticks out like a sore thumb. Maybe we could convince him to wear a disguise."_

Nami's train of thought was interrupted by a few words uttered by some bystanders.

"Can you believe they're chasing that old fairy tale? I mean come on, like there's really a Heart of Suijin."

"What's this now?"

"Oh… hello beautiful… I don't think I've seen you around."

"Just arrived, what's this about the Heart of Suijin?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I'm curious, tell me and I'll make it worth your while." she said giving him a wink.

"Well… last night at the bar Chomp and his brothers were talking about how Captain Sol was planning an insane raid that they said would make them richer than any one of the four emperors. But all the captain appears to be interested in is the fabled Heart of Suijin, which she seems to think will be there."

"Really? Did they happen to say where they were going?"

"They're not that stupid. Just because this island is controlled by pirates doesn't mean everyone agrees with them."

"Thanks, you've been very helpful…"

WHACK!

Luffy was one of the most infamous pirates on the sea, so it didn't take long for his appearance to turn some heads. He was able to eat at a local restaurant for about fifteen minutes undisturbed before he had some visitors at his table.

"So you're Straw Hat Luffy…"

Luffy didn't notice the three men that surrounded his table, he just kept eating.

"Hey punk, I'm talking to you!"

With one strike of his first the table shattered.

"Hey, I was eating you jerk!"

"You also anchored your ship on our island without permission… I'm afraid that's against the rules."

"Oh, and you would be?"

"I am Chomp of the Morning Star Pirates, and if you want to come to our island you've got to pay the toll."

"What toll?"

"Well, we don't get a lot of Supernovas here… They attract the unwanted attention of the marines. In your case I'd say about 1,000,000 belli per pirate."

Luffy wasn't any good at math, but he knew that sounded like a lot.

"But then I have I have less money to spend on meat."

"Looks like we've got ourselves a wise guy here."

"Boys… could you please take this outside?"

Chomp turned around and looked at the man.

"I always did like your sake. Okay, we'll take it outside."

BAM!

Thanks to the devil fruit he ate when he was a boy, Luffy's entire body was made of rubber. It took a haki enhanced blow to hurt him. Unfortunately that's exactly what Chomp hit him with, knocking him out through the door and skidding along the street.

"That's it, now I'm gonna kick your ass! Armament Hardening Gum-Gum Bullet!"

Unfortunately for Luffy the Jaw brothers were all adept at using observation haki as well as armament. Chomp dodged his attack without effort.

"You call that a devil fruit power? Brothers, let's show Mr. Supernova what a real devil fruit user looks like."

All three of the Jaw Brothers stood next to each other.

"Transform!"

Right before Luffy's eyes each of the Jaw Brothers transformed into a huge bipedal dinosaur. Chomp transformed into a Spinosaurus, the one on his left transformed into a Carcharodontosaurus, and the one on his right turned into a Carnotaurus.

"THAT'S SO COOL!" said Luffy.

Chomp and his brothers started to charge, so Luffy jumped high into the air.

"Gum-Gum Rain!"

Unfortunately Luffy's barrage of attacks didn't even faze his three opponents as they stomped by underneath him.

"What was that, a mosquito?" growled Chomp.

"Looks like I'm going to need to take it up a notch. Second Gear!"

As the energy started to surge through Luffy's body the Jaw Brothers started to charge again.

"Armament Hardening: Gum-Gum Jet Gatling!"

One of the things Rayleigh had taught Luffy during his two year hiatus was to analyze and exploit his opponent's weaknesses, as well as how to better direct his attacks. So far all these dinosaurs had done is charge him and attempt to crush him with their huge jaws. From what he could tell they were compensating for the fact that their arms were very small. But those huge jaws weren't going to do them any good if they couldn't reach their opponents. For this reason Luffy targeted their legs with his hardened Jet Gatling. Stomp and Tromp both collapsed in pain, but Chomp proved to be more resilient than his brothers.

"Must I do everything myself?"

"Gum-Gum Jet Bazooka!"

Before Luffy's attack hit, Chomp leapt high into the air using the Moonwalk technique, and came crashing down like a meteor. He turned around and roared, but before either person could make a move their entire battlefield was encircled with a thick cloud of smoke.

"Everyone stand down! Straw Hat Luffy, you're under arrest!"

When the smoke cleared Luffy and Chompn were surrounded by Vice Admiral Smoker and the Marines of G-5. Luffy was already thing of the best way to fight his way out, when suddenly…

BOOM!

There was a bright and loud but controlled explosion overhead. Everyone turned to see an exotically dressed young tanned skin woman with long dark hair.

"Sol Starchild… Captain of the Morning Star Pirates."

"Vice Admiral Smoker, you and your men are on my land."

Sol Starchild possessed the power of the logia class Plasma-Plasma fruit, essentially giving her the power of the sun. One of the reasons the Marines never made the Morning Star Pirates their priority was because their captain's power was stronger than even **Fleet Admiral Sakazuki**'s Magma-Magma fruit. For this reason Smoker was planning his next move cautiously.

"Our business isn't with you Captain Starchild. Let us have Monkey D. Luffy and maybe you'll be made into a warlord."

"Well, that is a very interesting offer. Felicity, would you care to deliver our rebuttal?"

Before Smoker or Luffy could move, one of the two women beside Sol shot beams from her hands that struck both of them. Moments later they both turned into puppies.

"Sir!"

"Time to go."

Sol pointed her finger up into the sky.

BOOM!  
There was blinding flash of light. When it subsided Monkey D. Luffy and the Morning Star Pirates were gone.

**(To be continued)**

**Now on deviantart: The Jaw Brothers**


	7. Hunter or Hunted

After getting the information about the Heart of Suijin, Nami immediately went to find the others.

"Where's Sanji?"

"He must still be off gathering groceries." said Robin.

"We need to find him and Luffy and get back to the ship."

"Did something happen?" asked Chopper.

"No, but I've found out what the Morning Star Pirates are up to."

It was then that they heard the sound of loud rumblings across the town.

"Three guesses who that was."

"Hurry."

As Nami, Robin, and Chopper made their way across town they noticed a Navy ship had appeared in the bay.

"Damn, the Marines are here."

"Forget the Marines, what the heck is that?!"

Chopper pointed at the huge Spinosaurus a few blocks away.

"If there's a fight, you can bet Luffy's in the middle of it."

Moments later the whole area was covered in a thick layer of smoke.

"Smoker…"

BOOM!

"What the heck was that?"

At this point Nami and the others had made it close enough to see and hear what was going on.

"Our business isn't with you Captain Starchild. Let us have Monkey D. Luffy and maybe you'll be made into a warlord."

"That's Captain Sol Starchild?"

"Yes… She's appropriately named, since it's said she wields the power of the sun."

"Well, that is a very interesting offer. Felicity, would you care to deliver our rebuttal?"

The others were shocked to see Luffy and Smoker transformed into puppies by Felicity's attack.

"Luffy!"

"Aww… how cute." said Robin.

When Captain Sol raised her hand and caused another explosion, Robin used her power to quickly bring Luffy to them.

"BARK! BARK! BARK!"

"Shh!"

"We need to get back to the ship and get out of here. It won't take the Mariness long to find us."

"What about Luffy?"

"Don't worry, I think I know what to do."

As they ran back to the ship Nami pulled a vivre card from a stand in the market. When they got back to the Sunny they found that Zoro, Brook, Franky, and Usopp all had their hands full with Marines.

"Weather Egg!"

Nami conjured a huge thundercloud that she used to incapacitate the remaining Marines.

"About time you guys showed up!" said Franky.

"Where's our black lunged cook?" asked Zoro.

"I heard that marimo!"

Sanji came leaping out of the woods with a large bag of groceries on his back.

"Where the heck is Luffy?"

"Believe it or not, this is Luffy." said Nami holding up the black furred puppy.

"Quick escape now, explanations later."

As the Sunny began to make its way out to sea, another ship started to pull out of the bay.

"What is that?"

"I think that's the Wrath of Ra. The Morning Star Pirate's personal ship." said Robin "Some say it's the fastest in the New World."

Nami quickly tore the vivre card she had stolen.

"Usopp, do you think you can plant this on that ship from here?"

"Why?"

"Can you do it or not?!"

"Alright, jezz…"

Usopp stuck the larger portion of the vivre card through a small knife and loaded it.

"Special attack: Vivre Card Tracer!"

Usopp's shot struck the Wrath of Ra a second before it blasted out of sight.

"What the heck was that?"

"I think my eyes just popped out in surprise." said Brook "Even though I don't have eyes. YOHOHOHOHO!"

"They must have some serious engines on that thing. And coming from the most SUPER shipwright in the world, that's saying something."

"Franky, hard to starboard. We need to get out of here, and we're going after them."

Before the others could protest the Marines started to open fire on them.

"Hang on everyone! COUP DE BURST!"

With the Straw Hats and the Morning Star Pirates gone, the mission had been a bust. Given that Smoker could only communicate by barking, it fell to Captain Tashigi to make the call.

"Captain Tashigi to HQ, Vice Admiral Smoker is down… No he isn't hurt, he's just… incapacitated."

"Incapacitated in what way Captain?"

"While we were attempting to arrest Monkey D. Luffy we were ambushed by the Morning Star Pirates, apparently one of them has the ability to turn people into animals."

"That's very weird Captain."

"I know… Requesting permission to pursue the Morning Star Pirates."

The Navy's forces were stretched thin across the five seas trying to contain both pirates and Monkey D. Dragon's revolutionaries. They couldn't afford to lose someone of Smoker's rank.

"Permission granted."

"Thank you, we'll calculate a list of possible locations based on their last known trajectory. Let us know if you hear anything."

"BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK!"

For a logia devil fruit user like Smoker, having your body transformed can really mess with things. He was cursing himself for being so careless around pirates like Captain Sol and her crew, when suddenly…

"Eww!"

"Whoever cleans that up gets out of dish duty!" said the Captain.

Meanwhile the Straw Hats were reacting to a similar incident.

"Not cleaning up after him. One, two, three, not it!" said Franky.

"Not it!" said Usopp.

"Not it!" said Zoro.

"Not it!" said Sanji

"Not it!" said Brook.

"Not it!" said Chopper.

"Not it." said Robin.

"Sanji, clean up after Luffy." said Nami.

"Anything for you Nami-Swan!"

"What kept you so long anyway?"

"Ninjas." replied Sanji.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Like real ninjas?!" asked Chopper.

"Yes, I kid you not, ninjas."

"I did not see that coming." said Usopp.

"Of course you didn't they're ninjas."

"Or in your case just another woman to shoot you down."

"Clam up mosshead, I've got proof!"

Sanji pulled out a golden medallion that he took from one of his attackers.

"Is that what I think it is?"

Robin took the medallion in her hand and carefully examined it.

"This is the mark of the Black Falcon Clan; their members have been among the deadliest assassins on the sea for generations."

"They can't be too tough." said Sanji "I took out three of them effortlessly, and I'm one guy."

"Yeah, they must be pretty weak if you managed to beat them." said Zoro.

"Shut it asshole!"

"Just three? I don't think their intent was to kill you, I think they were just scouts, and they wouldn't be the best the clan has to offer. I think they were tailing you to find the person on the island that has the highest bounty."

Luffy was barking loudly.

"He keeps talking about how much he wants to kick the asses of everyone who was there." said Chopper.

"Well, we can't sail to the end of the New World with our Captain like this. We need to get after the Morning Star Pirates and see if we can get them to undo what they've done to Luffy."

"Let's just hope they don't discover that vivre card on their ship."

But Nami wasn't that concerned about Luffy, at that moment all she could think about was Belle-mère and the story that she had told her and Nojiko all those years ago.

"_One day while the young man was out fishing, his small boat was caught in a terrible storm that cast him to another island, where he was forced to take refuge in a cave. Before going to sleep that night he decided to make sure he was alone in the cave. It turned out that it was a lot deeper than he had expected. He continued to follow the tunnel deep into the ground until finally he found a pool of water with a bright blue light emanating from it. His curiosity got the better of him, and that's where he found it… a flawless blue pearl the size of a cannonball, which he named the Heart of Suijin."_

**(To be continued)**

**Next time: The rest of the crew learns Nami's real intention, and we learn what makes Captain Sol tick. Meanwhile, the Black Falcon Clan and the Marines aren't the only ones in pursuit...**

**Now on deviantart: Felicity**


	8. Nami's Request

The Morning Star Pirate's base on Sunspot Island had been cleared out. There wasn't a single belli or item of interest to be found, it didn't look like they were planning on coming back.

"If there was some kind of devil fruit here it's gone now."

"Contact Blackbeard's people, tell them what happened."

Ever since the battle at Marineford, Blackbeard had been busy taking over Whitebeard's old territories and hunting other devil fruit users to amass more power for himself. With the Clock-Clock fruit in his possession he would be all but unstoppable. His contacts in the Navy confirmed that Fleet Admiral Sakazuki had located the fruit, but when he got there it had been stolen. The Fleet Admiral's men spent the next few days tearing the island apart and had found nothing, and no one had seen anything out of the ordinary, so the fruit hadn't been consumed. Black Beard's people were seeing which ships had been in and out or around the island during the time the Clock-Clock fruit was reported to have been found and the time that Sakazuki arrived. Though the Morning Star Pirates hadn't been reported to have actually landed on the island, they were the only group that really stuck out.

"Why would the Morning Star Pirates want the Clock-Clock fruit? Supposedly they all already have powers, and good ones at that."

"The same reason any pirate would want the Clock-Clock fruit, to keep it from the Marines and people like us." said Blackbeard "Let me know when they turn up again. If they have the Clock-Clock fruit we'll either fold them in or kill them, depends on my mood."

Captain Sol and her crew were currently sailing toward Crystalmite Island. They had already sent their possessions off to their new base in unmanned pods, but the Clock-Clock fruit was locked up in the Captain's quarters. They could afford to risk losing their money because on Crystalmite Island they would find more than ten times what they had, but they couldn't risk losing the fruit.

"Where are we going sis?" asked Vega.

"We're going to the place where the Heart of Suijin is along and plenty of other treasures. I promised you that one day we wouldn't have to do this anymore. If we succeed… we'll have finally reached our goal."

Sol and Vega were orphaned at a very young age when their father had a disagreement with the World Government and paid for it with his life. They ran from an abusive orphanage and began to live on the streets, forced to scrape and steal whatever they could to survive. One day by chance they managed to come across the Plasma-Plasma fruit. Sol used her newfound powers to build a crew of individuals with similar origins trying to build better lives for themselves, the kind of lives the World Government could not provide.

"Can I see it?" asked Vega.

"See what?"

"Chomp and the others said you guys found a very rare devil fruit."

"I guess I'll have to have a talk with them that they won't enjoy… but okay."

Sol unlocked the hidden compartment in her armoire and took out the bizarre looking fruit.

"Wow!"

"This is the legendary Clock-Clock fruit, the same power that the Golden Reaper used when he fought Straw Hat Luffy. So powerful that pirates, the World Government, and the revolutionaries are all looking for it."

"Why do we have it?"

"To make sure that the World Government doesn't get their hands on it. Imagine how many other families they could ruin if they did."

"I wish I had powers like you and the others."

"Devil fruits are nothing to be taken lightly Vega. Finding a useful power isn't easy, normal people tend to label you a freak, and then it takes years to master your power. You remember how long it took me to get control of mine. Nearly destroyed several islands… besides…"

Sol gave her little sister a hug.

"You're the only person on this ship that doesn't have a price on their head. I'd like it to stay that way."

"Can you at least tell me what they taste like?"

"Like rotten fish mixed with poison."

Aboard the Thousand Sunny, Nami couldn't stop thinking about the Heart of Suijin. In her childhood she often dreamed about finding it so she, Belle-mère, and Nojiko would have some money to live off of. Then she dreamed that she could use it to buy back her village from the fishmen. She never really stopped thinking about it when she wasn't busy keeping the rest of the crew alive.

"BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK!"

"Has he stopped barking once since he was transformed?" asked Sanji.

It had been nearly a day since Luffy had been transformed into a puppy by the Morning Star Pirates, but somehow he hadn't lost his appetite at all. When the others got tired of his barking they had to toss him a piece of meat.

"Maybe we should think about getting a pet when this is all over." said Robin.

"Knowing our captain it would have to be something absolutely insane." said Zoro.

"Guys… is it snowing?"

It took the others a minute, but they also noticed the sudden decline in temperature and the small flakes falling from the sky.

"It's snow!" exclaimed Chopper.

The wind started to pick up almost immediately, and then even more. All the while the snow continued to beat down on the ship's deck.

"We sailed straight into a blizzard!"

"Icebergs dead ahead!" yelled Usopp.

"Franky! Can we Coup De Burst?!"

"No! We need to preserve our supply of cola!"

"Ussop, prepare the cannons! Zoro and Brook, you're on slashing duty!"

Franky did his best to keep the Sunny clear of any icebergs, but there were far too many.

"Don't worry, Sunny will hold together!"

"This reminds me of a song…" said Brook "My icy heart of winter, in the spring it did melt. I met a pretty woman dressed in purple silk, and a black and white pelt. I'd never see another woman like her, not if I searched all the sea and outer space. I asked to see her panties, and she kicked me in the face."

Just when it seemed like they were about to make ti through, the mother of all icebergs came out of nowhere in front of them,

"Hard to port, hard to starboard! I don't care which; just get us away from that thing!"

"I'm trying!"

The iceberg was just about to hit, when suddenly…

"Gum-Gum Elephant Gatling!"

"Luffy?!"

Somehow Luffy reverted back to his normal self and began beating the hell out of the iceberg until it shattered.

"Hey, I'm back to normal!" exclaimed Luffy happily.

"What just happened?"

"I think I know." said Robin "I heard that sometimes bizarre devil fruit powers wear off on their own if the user doesn't have much experience with them. Obviously Zoo Keeper Felicity hasn't had hers very long."

"Great, then that means we don't have to go charging after Morning Star Pirates after all." said Usopp.

"No! We have to keep going!"

"Why?"

"What are you not telling us Nami?" asked Robin.

"Well… I… I overheard some locals on the island talking about what the Morning Star Pirates are up to. They're planning to sack Crystalmite Island."

"Really? It's not like you to want and do something that dangerous." said Robin.

"What's Crystalmite Island?" asked Luffy.

"Apparently it's one of the places where the World Nobles stash their excess money, meaning there could be hundreds of millions of belli, but I heard there's something there that I want."

"And that would be?"

"You're going to think it's silly… The Heart of Suijin."

For a moment everyone was quiet.

"The what?" asked Luffy just as clueless as ever.

"The Heart of Suijin is a legendary gemstone in a popular children's story of the same name." said Robin "In the story a poor fisherman finds it and gives it to his island's princess so she'll marry him. In the end she gives the gem up when a band of pirates take her husband hostage."

"Absolutely not!" exclaimed Usopp "I'm not getting killed over an imaginary rock!"

"Actually… I did some research on it when I was little." said Robin "The princess that is in the story is Princess Venus Maxia of Olympa. The Pirates that ransomed for the Heart of Suijin were the Golden Gator Fangs. If I'm not mistaken they were eventually destroyed by a rival band of pirates, which in turn were destroyed by another and another, until eventually the Bone Crowns were forced into slavery by the World Nobles. I think Crystalmite Island would make a fine place for them to keep a priceless trinket like that."

"Well.. If Nami-swan wants it, then that's where we're going!" said Sanji.

"Who died and made you Captain?" asked Zoro.

"It is Luffy's call to make."

"Hmm…"

"Luffy, I put up with a lot and I don't ask for much. But I've been dreaming about this since I was a little girl… And you'll probably get to fight more bad guys."

"Giant pearls and more fighting?! Why didn't you say so? Let's go to Crystalmite Island!"

**(To be continued)**

**Next time: The Straw Hats and the Morning Star Pirates arrive on Crystalmite Island, with the Marines and the Black Falcon Clan in hot pursuit. Keen-Eye Kimmi gets a chance to show her stuff, and one of Usopp's lies comes back to haunt him.**

**(Now on deviantart: Katrina)**


	9. Crystalmite Island

After several days of nonstop sailing, the Morning Star pirates were only a few hours from Crystalmite Island. The rain was pouring, but Captain Sol didn't care, in fact it seemed rather appropriate. Perhaps the rain would wash away this life she had been leading, and once the slate was clean she and her crew could start over.

"Captain, everyone's ready."

"Thank you old friend."

Everything the Morning Star Pirates had done so far had been building up to this moment. Sol had come to trust these people with her life, she just hoped they would survive the night.

"Okay everyone, here's what our contacts have told me. Despite their limited resources, the Marines have somehow managed to spare three battleships and two standard ships to protect the World Nobles' hoarded loot."

"Only three battleships?"

"Not very bright are they?"

"What do the ground forces look like?" asked Chomp.

"They have enough troops to fill a small island."

"Any devil fruit users, or are they just regular marines."

"Our contacts say there is only one person we really need to worry about, not a Marine, everyone just calls him 'The Guardian', who stands watch over the vault itself. The only way to get there without any hassle is to use the tunnel which is constructed from sea-prism stone. Unfortunately Saint Charloss has the only key."

"So we've got to get there the hard way." said Felicity.

"We're up to it. Once we've taken out their ships Katrina, Felicity, and myself will make our way to the vault. The rest of you are to stay with the ship. Kimmi, I want you to take out as many of these government dogs as you can from the crow's nest."

"You got it."

"Chomp, once you've received our signal you are to come charging to the vault with as many pods as you can carry. We'll be jamming their communications, but knowing the World Nobles it won't take the Navy long to realize something is wrong, and when they do all hell is going to come after us. Once we've loaded the pods and sent them off we get the hell out of here. And whatever you do, don't forget the Heart of Suijin."

For the next hour or so, Sol stood on the deck of the ship staring out at the sea.

"How's Vega?"

"Sound asleep in her bed." said Katrina.

"That will change once the fighting starts."

"Kimmi and the boys will take care of her."

"How is everyone else?"

"They can't wait to get their hands dirty. What's up with you? I'd think you of all people would be on pins and needles."

"I've planned this very carefully, but there's always margin for error."

"I trust you Captain, we all do."

"Just promise me that you'll take care of Vega if anything ever happens to me."

"Of course."

"Captain! Land ho!"

Crystalmite Island was named for the giant crystal stalagmites that covered the island's surface. These stalagmites glowed brightly in the stormy twilight.

"Looks like our informants were right. I count five ships."

"Kimmi, you know what to do."

Keen-Eye Kimmi was the Morning Star Pirate's weapon expert. She possessed the power of the Bullet-Bullet fruit, which granted her the power to use any inanimate object as a projectile and control it. She could change the trajectory of these projectiles in mid-flight and repeatedly strike one or multiple targets before expiring. In addition projectiles used with this power always did significantly more damage than normal. Kimmi could do this with _any _inanimate object, for this reason the front of the Wrath of Ra was built like a battering ram.

"Jammers are online, and we're all lined up!"

"Hold on everyone!" said Kimmi grabbing onto the ship's mast.

The Wrath of Ra was sent flying at a tremendous speed across the water until it crashed through two of the three battleships.

"Now to take care of the other three ships." said Sol already conjuring a huge ball of plasma energy.

"Why is it always rain?!" asked Usopp as the Sunny fought against the raging waters "It seems like every time we go on one of these crazy adventures there's rain!"

"It wasn't raining when we fought Crocodile." said Sanji "In fact that was one of the problems."

"Island ahead!"

The Straw Hats were immediately on deck and saw Crystalmite Island in the distance.

"It's beautiful!"

"Is it just me, or is there smoke coming from the island?"

Nami looked at the island through her telescope and saw that there were several burning ships along the water, and more fires were rising from the island itself.

"The Morning Star Pirates are already here. Quick Franky, take us to the side of the island!"

BOOM!

Before Franky could make a move, something hit the ship underneath.

"What the heck just happened?!" asked Chopper.

"Maybe we hit a sandbar?"

"EAAARREREUGH!"

"That didn't sound like a sandbar." said Brook.

Just then three huge serpentine heads with huge jaws rose out of the water and stared hungrily at the Sunny.

"THREE-HEADED SEA KING!"

"That's so cool!" exclaimed Luffy.

"_Somehow I knew that lie would come back to haunt me." _thought Usopp.

Zoro casually drew one of his swords like he didn't have a care in the world.

"One sword style, Demonic Dreadscythe!"

Zoro slashed off all three of the Sea King's heads and sheathed his sword, but no sooner had he turned his back that the beast's heads grew back.

"WHAT THE HECK!?"

"How is that even possible?!"

"Well, if cutting its head off won't work we'll just have to stun it… Thunder Breed Tempo!"

Nami's attack didn't seem to do anything; the creature just smiled and shot the blast back at them.

"Sea Kings don't do that!" exclaimed Franky.

"It must be some kind of mutant!"

The others quickly joined the battle, but nothing seemed to work.

"A giant three-headed Sea King… There's a song in there somewhere." said Brook as he stabbed at the creature's scaly body.

"You can worry about writing songs after we've beaten this thing!" yelled Sanji kicking away one of the three heads.

"We've never had this much trouble with a Sea King before." said Robin "Whatever the World Nobles paid to create this thing they got their money's worth."

Luffy was so impressed by the creature that he overlooked an obvious solution to the problem. For all its formidable power this Sea King was just a beast. As fun as a fight with this creature sounded, it was clear that the Morning Star Pirates had beaten them to the island, and he knew Nami would get angry if the chance to get this rock she wanted passed by. With a simple exertion of conqueror's haki the beast collapsed.

"Now let's hurry up before they make off with that diamond! Gum-Gum Rocket!"

"It's not a diamond, it's a pearl!"

Unfortunately for Nami, Luffy was already off.

**(To be continued)**


	10. More Ninjas

Vice Admiral Smoker had long since reverted back to his original form, but the G-5 Marines were still in pursuit of the Straw Hats and the Morning Star Pirates, the Marines agreed that no one turns their boss into a dog and gets away with it.

"I don't understand." said Tashigi "The Morning Star Pirates could have just let us have Straw Hat, they might have even considered making Captain Sol a Warlord."

"Maybe they don't like the idea of being dogs of the Government. In any case I don't think we can expect pirates that have earned bounties over 100,000,000 belli to make rational decisions."

"Sir, we've got smoke rising off an island on the starboard side!"

Smoker looked through the telescope and saw several burning Marine ships sinking into the sea.

"That's it, the pirates are there."

On Crystalmite Island, the Morning Star pirates stationed at the Wrath of Ra were busy wiping out the rest of the Marines on the shore while Captain Sol, Katrina, and Felicity were busy fighting their way to the vault. Unfortunately the island was covered with ferocious giant animals capable of using haki, which is exactly why Saint Charloss' personal tunnel to the vault was made of sea-prism stone, but Felicity had the power of the Zoo-Zoo fruit at her disposal.

"You dirty rat!"

Just like that a creature that looked like some kind of bipedal land shark turned into a small rat, but three more emerged to take its place.

"Aardvark! Tortoise! Guinea pig!"

"I never get tired of that trick."

"Hurry up guys, we're on a time table." said Sol.

"Well if we don't take care of these things, Chomp will have to fight his way through them once we give the signal."

"He's a huge Spinosaurus capable of short flight and can use haki. I think he'll be fine."

The Straw Hats had docked on the opposite side of the island.

"Okay guys, our Captain just rocketed off here to the island and has no idea what he's looking for. So I guess it's up to us to find the vault." said Nami.

"He'll probably just fight anything he runs into, I wouldn't worry about it." said Robin.

"Brook, Chopper, Franky, and Usopp stay here and protect the ship. The rest of us will try and find the vault."

"How will we know this heart thing when we see it?" asked Zoro.

"It's a big blue pearl, its kinda hard to miss."

"Don't worry Nami-Swan!" exclaimed Sanji "I'll bring you the Heart of Suijin, and I'll give you my heart as well! Even though it's always belonged to you."

Before they took a single step Zoro unsheathed one of his swords.

"We're not alone."

Just then several shuriken came out of nowhere. Zoro blocked all of them with his sword before they could strike any of the others.

"You can come out or I can cut you down."

At that moment at least two dozen ninjas leapt down from the trees.

"Ninjas!" exclaimed Chopper.

"It's the Black Falcons." said Robin.

"I'll take the guy in the ninja suit." said Franky.

Meanwhile further along the island, Luffy was fighting a school of land sharks.

"Armament Hardening: Gum-Gum Gatling!"

It took a whole five minutes before Luffy had knocked down the last shark.

"Now… if I were a great big diamond, where would I be?"

Just then there was another explosion in the distance.

"I better get moving. If I don't get that diamond before that Star Girl and her friends do, Nami is going to be very mad at me."

Luffy was so busy running that he never noticed the tripwires along the path.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"Hey! What's the big idea?!" he yelled jumping out of the smoke.

"I knew you'd be here."

Luffy looked down and saw that there was a ninja wearing a silver mask.

"Oh my! A real live ninja!" exclaimed Luffy with his mouth wide open.

"I'm not just any ninja you thieving pirate. I am Talon, lieutenant to Grandmaster Umbra Yoshi of the Black Falcon Clan. I am here for your head."

"How did you know I was going to be here?"

"My people have been gifted and cursed with the ability of foresight for generations."

"Foresight? Does that mean… YOU CAN SEE THE FUTURE!"

"Indeed, and I have I foreseen your death."

Luffy laughed.

"I guess you're not psychic after all, otherwise you would have seen that I'm going to be the King of the Pirates. Armament Hardening: Gum-Gum Bullet!"

Talon effortlessly dodged Luffy's attack.

"Alright… Gum-Gum Gatling!"

None of Luffy's attacks found their mark; meanwhile Talon drew his sword and charged. He came at Luffy with a barrage of vicious thrusts, but only managed to score a small wound across his shoulder. But Luffy immediately felt like all his strength in the that arm had been sucked out of him.

"There is sea-prism stone embedded in the blade. We Black Falcons have gained our reputation from killing some of the most feared individuals across the sea, there's been plenty of notorious devil-fruit users among them."

"You're going to have to do better than that."

If this guy could really see the future, Luffy figured he should probably use the same strategy he used to defeat the Reaper. He needed to go against his instincts.

"Armament Hardening! Gum-Gum Bell!"

Luffy struck Talon dead on and sent him flying into a crystal stalagmite.

"Blasted pirate!"

Talon started throwing shuriken, which Luffy was sure were also embedded with sea-prism stone. Luffy dodged them and countered.

"Gum-Gum Lance!"

After recovering from Luffy's attack, Talon seemed to have lost his cool. He began charging at Luffy with some haki enhanced sword strikes, but Luffy was untouchable.

"I don't have time for this. Gum-Gum Bullet!"

This time Luffy's managed to punch Talon right in the face, and he didn't get up.

"Tell me where I can find the diamond!"

"What?"

"The diamond, The Heart of Sushi!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I know there's a big diamond on this island, and if I don't get it my navigator is going to kill me!"

"Your navigator is the least of your worries." laughed Talon "Grandmaster Umbra Yoshi himself is on his way to this island. I just came here to buy him some time."

"Well when he gets here I'll kick his ass too."

Little did Luffy know there were more people on their way to Crystalmite Island than just the rest of the Black Falcon ninja elite.

"Sir, we've just herd from our informants that a government controlled island that isn't supposed to exist has gone dark, and that the G-5 Marines are going to investigate, and they were the ones pursuing the Morning Star Pirates."

"Then that's our next stop." chuckled Blackbeard "If all goes well I'll soon have the Clock-Clock fruit and several other priceless trinkets to go with it."

**(To be continued)**

**Next time: Luffy catches up with the Morning Star Pirates, and they both encounter the vault's guardian, a monster named Volakon.**

**(Now on deviantart: Captain Sol Starchild and Vega Starchild)**


	11. The Guardian

Luffy continued to rocket across the island's harsh landscape. He could sense that there were all kinds of powerful opponents that he was going to have to fight; he couldn't waste any of his energy on any more of the beasts that inhabited the island.

"Everywhere looks the same on this island, I'm getting nowhere fast."

Luffy grabbed on to a crystal stalagmite and stopped to think.

"Hmm… If I were a giant diamond where would I be? Robin said it was owned by several different pirate crews before it ended up here. I'd keep it in a treasure chest… but I haven't seen one since I got here… Wait, maybe it's in one of those safe things. But where am I going to find one of those in a place like this? Wait! Maybe there are guards or something."

Luffy tried his best to focus, but it seemed like most of the island's inhabitants had already been wiped out by the Morning Star Pirates. But he could sense that there was at least one really strong guy just itching for a fight.

"That way! Gum-Gum Rocket!"

Luffy landed at the base of a huge cluster of crystals. In front of him was a large metal door, and in front of it stood a muscular man that was about ten feet tall.

"Straw Hat Luffy…" he growled "I was hoping it might be a pirate of your infamy. It's been far too long since I've had a good fight."

"Who the heck are you?"

"I am Volakon, I guard this portion of Saint Charloss' wealth, and I'm the last person you will ever lay eyes upon."

"Tell me where I can find the diamond or I'm gonna kick your ass!" bellowed Luffy.

"Diamond? There are plenty of those inside the vault, but I'm afraid you're going to have to be a little more specific."

"The Black Hand of Sushi!"

"Straw Hat, I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about. Not that it matters, I'm still going to kill you."

Luffy chuckled.

"You're welcome to try, but you don't look anywhere near as scary as my navigator will be if I don't bring her that diamond."

Suddenly the energy Luffy sensed from Volakon spiked.

"Not scary eh? Why don't I show you just how scary I can be?"

Volakon transformed into a colossal winged dragon right before Luffy's eyes. His body was covered in golden scales and had diamonds embedded in them.

"You're a simple paramecia devil fruit user, I on the other hand am a mythical zoan fruit user, the Gilded Dragon!" he bellowed.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Armament hardening: Gum-Gum Bullet!"

Volakon looked like he didn't even feel the attack.

"That almost tickled… now it's my turn."

Volakon opened his mouth and shot out a huge jet stream of fire. Luffy leapt into the air in time to dodge it, but saw that the fire had melted the bases of several crystal stalagmites behind him. Before they hit the ground Volakon lunged his head, and Luffy narrowly avoided getting bitten in half. Apparently Volakon's tremendous size didn't affect his speed.

"Armament Hardening: Gum-Gum Bazooka!"

This time Luffy hit Volakon in the chin, but it looked like he didn't even blink.

"Not only is my dragonhide all but impenetrable, but I'm also a proud master of busoshoku haki. The World Nobles only select the best to protect their hoarded wealth. I don't mind the money, but it's been awhile since I've had a good fight. On paper this island doesn't even exist and anyone unfortunate enough to drift here often ends up as food for the land sharks."

Luffy leapt high into the air and prepared to attack.

"Armament Hardening: Gum-Gum…"

Before Luffy could finish his sentence Volakon had taken to the air and was right in his face.

"Whoa… what large teeth you have."

Luffy bounced off several stalagmites to avoid getting incinerated.

"I can't drag this out; I need to save my energy for those star people."

Just then a loud explosion rocked the island.

"Time out." said Volakon "Would you mind waiting there for a moment, I'll be right back."

A vault that contained even a portion of the wealth of any one of the World Nobles was designed to withstand a huge assault by the toughest pirates on the sea, but it wasn't built to withstand the intense heat of the sun, which was exactly what Captain Sol had at her disposal.

"Look at all this stuff!" exclaimed Felicity.

Sol fired a huge ball of plasma into the air, signaling Chomp that it was time to bring as many pods as he could carry.

"Spread out and find the Heart of Suijin, we're not leaving without it."

"I can't believe my eyes…" said Katrina "I knew there had to be a lot, but with this much loot we could be richer than the Four Emperors."

"Wait a minute… where's the guardian?"

Sol's answer was a huge burst of fire right in front of her face. She and the others looked up and saw a huge dragon dive-bombing toward them.

"Spread out!"

Volakon circled around the vault in the air and continued to shoot bursts of fire. One would think his tremendous size would make him a big target for Sol's plasma blasts or Felicity's zoo power, but being the skilled haki user that he was Volakon was able to dodge them.

"Katrina, please tell me you brought the sword with sea-prism embedded in the blade."

"Of course."

"Then get up there and ram it through that thing's heart."

Katrina wasn't only an adept haki user and a swordswoman, she also possessed a zoan fruit that enabled her to transform into a spider. Her hybrid form enabled her to develop her own spider-sword style, but that wasn't the only perk that came with it. She shot a huge strand of webbing that made contact with Volakon's chest and attempted to climb up, but Volakon quickly noticed and shot her back down. Before she could try again he flew higher than her webs could reach.

"Captain Sol Starchild and the Morning Star Pirates, it must be my lucky day. It's not often I get to deal with such an infamous pirate, let alone two."

"Two?"

Luffy was never going to get into the vault with that huge dragon in the way, and he doubted the Morning Star Pirates were just going to let him take the gem either.

"I can't waste any more time or energy with this thing… I just hope this is enough to finish him."

Luffy swung himself at Volakon and bit both his thumbs.

"Third Gear!"

Just like that both of his arms were inflated.

"Armament hardening: Gum-Gum Elephant Gun!"

Luffy had noticed that Volakon's wings weren't as heavily armored as the rest of his body was. When his fist made contact with the beast's wing he heard a loud snap and the dragon roared.

"And one more for the road!"

This time Luffy punched Volakon in the face and sent him hurtling off into the distance. Luffy's arms deflated and he landed gracefully on the ground.

"Straw Hat… This is a surprise." said Sol.

**(To be continued)**

**Next time: The Straw Hats vs. The Morning Star vs. G-5 vs. The Black Falcons**


	12. Fatal Four-Way Fight

"Straw Hat, what brings you to this god-forsaken island?" asked Sol.

"My navigator told me you were here for the Black Hand of Sushi, and she's going to kill me if you do."

"I think you mean the Heart of Suijin, which is blue, and I'm afraid we were here first."

"No you weren't I was fighting the dragon before you got here."

"We can debate the details all night, but you're still going to lose."

"I'd like to see you try."

"As much as I'd love the chance to kick your sorry ass, I'm on a timetable."

Sol waved her fingers and Luffy was hit by a blinding flash of light.

"AH! I CAN'T SEE!"

"That's the idea."

At that moment Chomp arrived in his Spinosaurus form carrying ten pods on his sides.

"Start filling those things and launch them as soon as they are filled!"

"Hey! We're not done yet!"

Luffy may have been blinded for the moment, but he was able to use his haki to compensate.

"Walrus! Rabbit! Pig!"

Felicity tried getting Luffy with her zoo blasts, but she couldn't hit him.

"I'm not going to fall for that again!"

"Leave him to me! Fill those pods and find the Heart of Suijin!"

Chomp grabbed loads of treasure with his mouth and loaded it into the pods while Katrina and Felicity started shifting through piles looking for the Heart of Suijin.

"This one's full!" bellowed Chomp.

Felicity ran over, sealed the pod, and put the coordinates in on the console. Moments later the pod shot off like a rocket. Meanwhile back on the Wrath of Ra, Tromp kept track of the pod's trajectory as he and the others whipped out what was left of the island's Marines.

"The first pod is away!" he exclaimed.

"What about the other nine?"

"One thing at a time."

"We might not have that much time." said Kimmi "We've got company!"

Kimmi saw two ships coming toward the island from two different directions.

"One of those is a Marine ship; I don't know who these other guys are."

"Who cares who they are, just take them out!" yelled Stomp.

"Roger that."

Kimmi took aim with one of the ship's cannons and fired. With her Bullet-Bullet powers she could control the shot's trajectory so she could damage both ship's several times, but at that instant one of the ships was enveloped in a thick cloud of smoke.

"Vice Admiral Smoker!"

"This island isn't supposed to exist, I don't think someone of his rank knows what the World Nobles do here."

"Even so, we need to assume that backup can't be far behind."

"Hurry sis." thought Vega.

While Sol kept Luffy busy, the others continued to load the pods and search for the Heart of Suijin.

"Is this it?" asked Chomp spitting a gem out of his mouth.

"That's a sapphire; we're looking for a blue pearl."

Katrina morphed into her hybrid form so she could use her extra limbs to speed up the search.

"Got it!"

Sol hit Luffy in the face with a haki enhanced kick and went over to see.

"Finally… after all these years… the Heart of Suijin!"

The legends didn't disappoint. The Heart of Suijin was easily as big as a cannonball, if not bigger.

"We can admire it later. The last pod is away."

"Then let's get the hell out of here."

After about five minutes, Luffy came back to his senses.

"Hey! What's the big idea?! Where'd they go?"

Luffy knew he had to stop the Morning Star Pirates from getting away with the Heart of Suijin or else. He used his haki to track them.

"That way! Gum-Gum Rocket!"

Sol, Katrina, and Felicity all rode back to the Wrath of Ra on Chomp's back, but when they got there Luffy landed right in front of them.

"Hand over the diamond!"

"It's not a diamond, it's a pearl." replied Sol.

"What's the difference?"

"Well, diamonds are compressed and superheated carbon, whereas pearls are made of calcium carbonate deposited in the mantle of a mollusk."

"What?" asked Luffy with a finger up his nose.

"He's not taking us seriously!" growled Chomp.

"He does have a higher bounty than anyone on our crew."

"If you don't hand over the… thing… I'm going to beat the crap out of all of you."

"We don't have time for this."

"Don't worry Captain. Seven vs. one, this will be over fast." said Tromp transforming into a Carnotaurus.

Just then a blast of lightning struck the center of the area.

"Maybe not so fast." said Zoro.

"What took you guys so long?" asked Luffy as his crew joined the field "And where's Franky?"

"Like he'd really leave the Sunny alone on an island with this many enemies." replied Nami.

"Hand over the Heart of Suijin and no one gets hurt." said Sanji.

"The only ones getting hurt are all you pansy-ass babies." said Kimmi already pointing her pistols.

Without warning the entire battlefield was engulfed in smoke, when it lifted the Straw Hats and the Morning Star pirates were surrounded by the Marines of G-5.

"Smokey?! You're here too?"

"You're all under arrest. Lay down your weapons."

"Boys, would you care to deliver our rebuttal?" asked Katrina.

Chomp, Stomp, and Tromp all roared at the same time, a moment later a loud shriek like a bird call echoed across throughout the field.

"What the hell was that?"

A moment later a whole platoon of ninjas emerged out of nowhere.

"NINJAS!" exclaimed Luffy and the G-5 Marines.

All the ninjas looked alike, except for one that appeared to be wearing some kind of lightweight armor. Tashigi recognized him as the Black Falcon Ninja Grandmaster Umbra Yoshi because of the dual bladed sword he was carrying.

"_Oh my gosh… that's Shezmu's Judgement!"_

"Stand down all of you, and I promise we'll only kill Straw Hat."

"This is a Marine issue." said Smoker "You have no business here."

"We've been paid to bring someone the head of Monkey D. Luffy. That makes it our business."

This was supposed to be a simple in and out raid, just steal the Heart of Suijin along with a good portion of Saint Charloss' money and get out before the Navy realized what was going on. Sol had carefully planned this, but she was quickly realizing that even the best laid plans have margin for error.

"_The Straw Hats are bad enough, but now they've brought the Marines and ninjas?! Someone of Smoker's rank shouldn't even know this island exists; he must've just followed the Straw Hats. Even with jammed communications it's only a matter of time before the rest of the Navy puts two and two together. They won't order a Buster Call because this is where one of the World Nobles keeps his money, so that just leaves one of the Admirals."_

Sol looked up and saw that Vega was peeking out from behind one of the cannons on the ship; she gestured for her to stay down and then turned to her crew.

"We can't afford to stay here any longer." she whispered "I'll take out most of them with my conqueror's haki. Just hit whatever's left hard and fast."

"You got it."

The moment Sol tried exerting her haki she felt an equally strong force pushing against hers.

"_Straw Hat!"_

For a moment Luffy and Sol were caught in a sort of mental tug of war, until the strain caused them both to collapse under pressure. And then the bubble popped. Umbra let out another loud shriek like a bird, and then arrows came flying out of nowhere.

"Three sword style: Dragon Twister!"

Everyone watched as Zoro's attack cut every arrow in the air before it found its mark.

"No way he's human." commented one of the Marines.

"Dibs." said Zoro pointing his sword at Umbra.

Smoker immediately engulfed the entire crowd in a thick layer of smoke, but that did little to stop all the haki users that were present.

"Let's get these freaks!" roared Chomp.

Chomp and his brothers began to charge, but Robin sprouted six arms and tripped all three of them.

"The bigger they are the harder they fall."

The Black Falcons that weren't already charging were throwing shuriken. Kimmi immediately took out twelve of them with two shots from her pistols.

"How the heck did she do that?!" exclaimed Usopp dodging an attack from the Marines "That trajectory is impossible!"

"Less talking more fighting!"

Tashigi was trying to fight her way through, but ended up in a duel with a hybrid spider Katrina wielding six swords. Meanwhile Zoro was in a duel with Umbra, Sanji was fighting a dozen ninjas at once, and Luffy was fighting Sol. Since Luffy obviously knew how to use haki she wasn't bothering trying to go intangible. She did however continue to fire a barrage of plasma blasts at him in-between blows.

"You certainly live up to your reputation as a troublemaker. You interfered with a well laid plan, now I'm going to have to kill you for it."

Luffy dodged another plasma shot and blocked a haki enhanced punch.

"I'm just here on behalf of my navigator, after that I'm going to sail to the end of the New World and become the King of the Pirates. Gum-Gum Gatling!"

Sol gracefully dodged all of Luffy's attacks.

"Some Pirate King, can't even beat a girl."

Without warning Smoker manifested on top of Luffy and Sol and started to swing his jitte.

"You're both going down!"

"Buzz off!"

Luffy and Sol both punched Smoker in the face with haki enhanced blows.

Vega was watching her big sister and her friends fight for their lives while she was hiding behind a cannon.

"They all have such awesome powers. Sol has the power of the sun, Katrina can transform into a spider and wield six swords, Felicity can turn people into animals, Chomp and his brothers can turn into dinosaurs, and Kimmi does that bullet thing."

Over the years Vega was always on the ship while the others were doing dangerous stuff. Sol escorted her off the ship whenever it was safe, but she never played a role in their adventures, which is why she didn't have a bounty on her head. But at the end of the day she felt very left out when all the others were talking.

"I wish I had powers of my own…"

Chopper wasn't about to go into combat against a whole platoon of ninjas directly, so he went to his horn point and started digging. Meanwhile the others were keeping the Marines, ninjas, and Stars contained.

"Prelude: Au Fer…"

With this attack Brook was able to disarm nearly two dozen Marines and ninjas.

"Look at that, their eyes are popping out in surprise. I wish I could do that. Yohohoho!"

Usopp was firing round after round of Impact Wolves, but they weren't doing nearly as much damage as Kimmi's devil fruit enhanced bullets.

"I've just about had it with this blasted pirates!"

More of the ninjas charged, but they fell into the tunnel that Chopper just finished digging.

"Well done doctor." said Robin.

"You big dummy! Calling me doctor doesn't make me happy!"

"Look out!"

Chopper was saved by a timely intervention by Nami.

"Gust sword!"

The fight continued to escalate. The Marines and the Black Falcons had the advantage in numbers, but the Straw Hats and the Morning Stars had the advantage in power.

"Cow! Armadillo! Chinchilla! Llama!"

The Black Falcons turned their attention to Felicity because too many of their men were being turned into animals. She was hit in both arms and legs by shuriken embedded with sea-prism stone. It was enough to make her collapse.

"Felicity!"

Stomp broke from the fight to save Felicity, and Katrina used her knack for multitasking to give him some cover with some webs. She immediately returned to her duel with Tashigi.

"You hold your own well… for a government dog."

"I'm not just going to let you pirates do what you want!"

"What, we should have joined the Marines like the rest of you? Where was the government when my island was struck by famine? Where were they when my parents died? Where were they after I was left to rot?!"

The argument was interrupted by Umbra, who knocked Tashigi and Katrina's swords out of their hands.

"I'm sorry you two had to get involved."

Umbra raised his sword, but Sanji came out of nowhere and kicked him in the head.

"HEY YOU DUMBASS! HE'S MY OPPONNET!"

"THEN DON'T LET HIM HURT THE LADIES YOU GRASS HAIRED MORON!"

Zoro and Sanji's argument erupted into war, sowing some confusion among the Marines.

"Okay, I'm lost here. Who's fighting who?"

Sol could see that the fight was starting to take its toll on everyone. Even Chomp, Stomp, and Tromp were beginning to tire.

"We can't waste any more time with this!"

Sol blocked another haki enhanced attack from Luffy and shot him with a plasma blast.

"Luffy!"

"Solar Storm!"

Sol rose up into the air and started spinning like a ballerina. Moments later giant balls of plasma came falling out of the sky.

"Look out!"

The plasma balls caused everyone to scatter.

"Make for the ship, now!"

BOOM!

The entire island shook so violently that everyone was knocked off their feet, and the Wrath of Ra capsized.

"EARTHQUAKE!"

"VEGA!"

Luffy suddenly recovered from Sol's attack, and he looked madder than any of the others had ever seen him.

"YOU!"

A maniacal laugh echoed across the battlefield, and it sent a chill down everyone's spines.

"Straw Hat… I didn't expect to see you here. I won't say it changes anything, but it does make this a little more interesting." laughed Blackbeard.

**(To be continued)**

**Next time: Exhausted from their fight, is there anything Luffy and friends can do to keep Blackbeard from getting his hands on the Clock-Clock Fruit?**


End file.
